Defence Sourcing Not Driven By Ideology, Says India On Germany's 'Offer'

India's policy of choosing from where to source defence hardware is driven by national interest, and is not at all ideological, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in response to a question by NDTV linked to the official visit of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The German leader, who met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, said Germany wants to cooperate more closely on security issues to reduce India's reliance on Russia. India is already in talks for a potential deal to build six submarines by Germany's Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems in a partnership with Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders.

"On the security policy remarks that the German chancellor made and other remarks on decrease in our [defence] sourcing from other sources, I think as far as the security policy aspect is concerned, he was pointing to what I was talking about earlier, which was a change in the approach that Germany has taken with regard to defence and security policy insofar as India is concerned," Misri said.

"But look, our approach on defence sourcing is driven entirely by national interest. There are a lot of factors involved in that, and it is certainly not ideological, it is entirely driven by our interest. So I would not say that sourcing from one is linked to sourcing from another," he added.

India still works closely with Russia, where much of its military equipment originates, on security policy, and it is one of the largest buyers of Russian gas and oil alongside China.

"We have a process in place that sets the requirements that we have at any given time. We look at where in the world if we are going to source it from outside, if we are not going to manufacture locally, can we source it in the most convenient manner. I don't think one is influenced by the other," he said.

Defence cooperation is an important pillar of the India-Russia strategic partnership. At present, it is guided by the Agreement on the Programme for Military Technical Cooperation signed between the two countries. The two sides have periodic exchanges of armed forces personnel and military exercises.

India and Russia also have an institutionalised structure to oversee the complete range of issues of military and military technical cooperation. Some of the battle-proven Russian-origin defence hardware that India uses include T-90 main battle tanks, Sukhoi-30MKI, MiG-29K, to name a few.

Over the years, cooperation in the military technical sphere has evolved from a purely buyer-seller relationship to joint research, design development and production of state of the art military platforms. The highly successful BrahMos cruise missile is a big example of this. The joint venture Indo-Russia Rifles Pvt Ltd has started making AK-203 assault rifles in India.

Misri said Germany's defence policy in relation to India has changed.

"We can clearly see that clearances that used to take a long time earlier are now being approved very fast. The backlog has been nearly cleared. On the question you asked about the submarine deal, as you are probably aware, there are technical, financial and commercial discussions involved in a deal of this kind. These discussions are continuing. All I can say is that discussions have maintained a positive momentum," he added.

He said it would be difficult to say where India and Germany are exactly at this point in time since these discussions have not concluded.

"The Defence Ministry would have a better sense of that. But what I can say is that discussions are proceeding positively, and we hope to see a positive outcome," the Foreign Secretary said.